The chairs of Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, Petra De Sutter (Greens/EFA, BE), and Transport Committee, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, FR), welcomed today’s rapid decision of EU Transport ministers to support green lane supply routes (giving priority to transport of essential goods such as food as well as vital medical and protective equipment), as suggested by MEPs and the Commission. The aim of the new and urgent COVID-19 measures is to protect health and keep goods and essential services available within the EU’s internal market.

“Completely closing down borders might seem like the safest way to protect our citizens, but we all depend on imports from other member states to keep our supplies uninterrupted. Guaranteeing the unobstructed transport of essential goods such as food and guaranteeing an uninterrupted supply of vital medical and protective equipment, ensures that this crisis will not turn into a catastrophe. We rely and we depend on each other when it comes to our public health”, said the Chair of the Internal Market Committee.

“Installing so-called ‘green lanes’ – especially for medical and protective equipment – is of utmost importance in the coming days and weeks”, stressed Ms de Sutter, referring to member states’ commitment on the supply of medical equipment.

Transport Committee Chair Karima Delli said that smooth border crossing and coordination between member states will be essential to overcome this crisis. “We have to find ways to keep our transport systems going and to reduce queues to save time and money. We stand ready to act together and quickly and we stand behind the drivers and the whole transport sector that is working tirelessly to keep the goods flowing during this crisis”, said the Chair.

“There is an urgent need to implement measures to end ghost flights. Airlines must be provided with guarantees on future slots. This is the only way to prevent empty flights in the EU,” she concluded.

Today, EU ambassadors agreed the Council’s position on two legislative proposals which will free up funds to tackle the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. Given the urgency of the situation, both proposals were approved without amendments.

The so-called Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative will make available €37 billion of Cohesion funds to member states to address the consequences of the crisis. About €8 billion of investment liquidity will be released from unspent pre-financing in 2019 for programmes under the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. The measure will also provide access to €29 billion of structural funding across the EU for 2020. Expenditure on crisis response will be available as of 1 February 2020.

The new measures will support SMEs to alleviate serious liquidity shortages as a result of the pandemic, as well as strengthen investment in products and services necessary to bolster the crisis response of health services. Member states will also have greater flexibility to transfer funds between programmes to help those most adversely affected.

EU ambassadors also endorsed without amendment a legislative proposal to extend the scope of the EU Solidarity Fund to cover public health emergencies. The fund was initially set up to help member states and accession countries deal with the effects of natural disasters. Including public health emergencies will enable the Union to help meet people’s immediate needs during the coronavirus pandemic. The aim is to complement efforts of the countries concerned.

Next steps

The European Parliament will now need to agree its position on the new measures. Once there is an agreement, the Council is expected to adopt the measures by written procedure.

The report looks at the actions of governments and administrations, and also at the impact that the outbreak has had – particularly in its early phase – on instances of discrimination and hate speech. The research covers all EU Member States, and the results will be issued as a short FRA focus report around the Easter period. 

​​​Following the measures introduced in many EU countries in relation to the Covid-19 epidemic outbreak, the secretariat of the European Entrepreneurial Region secretariat has decided to extend the deadline for applications for the EER 2021 award to 15 April by midnight.

In addition, the secretariat will apply a certain level of flexibility to this new deadline, e.g. if the application is submitted by 15 April, the secretariat will accept if supporting documents are submitted with a few days delay.

The above measures are intended to provide more space for applicants who are not able to complete their applications due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the EU.